Despite reportedly topping 7.3 million sales in just two months since its release, EA has revealed that Battlefield V has failed to meet expectations. Although this is a worrying dip for the flagship series, the company acknowledges that it was the result of “intense competition” throughout the 2018 Holiday period.

In order to make “final adjustments to core gameplay,” EA delayed Battlefield V from its intended October release until November 20^th. While this avoided clashing with Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2, both titles took a commanding lead of the market for the remainder of the year, which was likely a large factor in Battlefield V’s deprived sales. Fortnite’s enduring popularity is also likely to have contributed, given its free-to-play model.

There are a number of internal factors that could have also harmed the game leading up to release, from the gender controversy leading to director Alan Kertz calling fans “uneducated” to concerns over censorship. Players were also disgruntled at the staggered release of its various modes, with the first Tides of War chapter arriving weeks after launch and its battle royale mode, Firestorm has yet to see the light of day.

As a result of the decrease in sales, the publisher has lowered its revenue estimations for this quarter. The publisher expressed its excitement at launching BioWare’s Anthem and Respawn’s free-to-play Apex Legends, alongside a new Need for Speed, Plants vs. Zombies and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order later this year.

KitGuru Says: Hopefully this doesn’t mean the end of the Battlefield series, but perhaps EA could take a leaf out of Ubisoft’s book by stepping back for a year to re-evaluate. What did you think of Battlefield V?

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